The Board of Trustees of the Colorado School of Mines sold $132.5 million in bonds to redevelop the university’s on-campus housing.
The bonds mature between 2025 and 2053, yielding between 3.8% and 5.12%. They received a rating of A1 from Moody’s Investors Service and A+ from S&P Global Ratings.
The rating reflects the university’s “very good strategic positioning based on its established niche in earth sciences, energy and the environment, drawing steady increases in enrollment, net tuition revenue and research activity,” Moody’s analysts wrote.
The issuance comes amid a shortage of young workers in the mining sector, even as the industry becomes increasingly critical to powering the transition away from fossil fuels. Mined minerals such as copper, nickel, and lithium are fundamental ingredients in electric vehicle batteries and other so-called green technologies. At the Colorado School of Mines, enrollment in mining, geophysical, and geological engineering degrees has fallen 35% over the past decade, Bloomberg reported.
The bond proceeds will finance a project to double the size of an on-campus apartment building. After construction is complete, Mines Park, a residence hall which primarily houses upperclassmen and graduate students, will have 1,058 beds, according to the official statement accompanying the sale of the bonds. It currently has 538 beds. The board projects the project to $139 million, with the new facility opening in August 2025.
The Colorado School of Mines is a public research university in Golden, a Denver suburb. Its degrees are concentrated on studies of energy and the environment. The bonds are special, limited obligations of the university’s board of trustees, payable by some university revenue.
Morgan Stanley & Co LLC served as underwriter on the issuance, purchasing the bonds for $135.4 million. The price reflected a premium of $3 million.